


friday night dinner

by cosmicpoet



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Dinner, F/M, M/M, Movie Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 13:31:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18918016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicpoet/pseuds/cosmicpoet
Summary: Kaito, Shuichi, and Maki spend every Friday night together.





	friday night dinner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clownrat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clownrat/gifts), [kumashikii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kumashikii/gifts).



Friday night dinner is a tradition between three friends, and nothing more. It doesn’t _need_ to be anything more; it’s perfect as it is, all the cheap bottles of wine and chicken that took months to perfect into a properly-cooked recipe, the music that they all know the lyrics to, the shitty movies and stargazing and talking until the early hours of the morning. Kaito wouldn’t change a thing about it.

It’s his turn to host, so he’s spent all day trying to cook something edible, running between his kitchen and the corner shop to buy ingredients that he forgot to get in the past two trips. He remembers fondly the time that Shuichi told him he should take a culinary arts course, and every third Friday, when it’s his turn to cook something, he genuinely considers the suggestion. It has the potential to make him feel self conscious, but he knows that Maki and Shuichi would come round even if he served undercooked chicken (or, as he once called it - _medium rare chicken),_ purely because they’re his friends. And he’s holding onto that.

If he’s honest - completely honest - with himself, he still thinks that he doesn’t deserve them. They’re both so talented, so wonderful, such amazing people who light up every room that they walk into, and he doesn’t really know how to navigate feeling second best. Normally, such a feeling would foster resentment to whoever caused him to feel like anything other than the _Luminary of the Stars,_ but it’s different with Maki and Shuichi. Truthfully, he admires them. There’s a lot that he could learn from them, a lot that he _has_ to learn from them, but the feelings of inferiority are nowhere near as grand as the magnitude of love that he has for the people who’ve singlehandedly made his life worth living.

A knock on the door snaps him out of his thoughts. He answers it to find Shuichi. As usual, he’s slouching a little, still looking anxious - Kaito can only imagine that he’s running over the date and time in his head, making sure he hasn’t turned up too early, or on the wrong day altogether. It makes Kaito happy to smile at him, reassure him that everything is absolutely, completely _perfect,_ and invite him inside. 

And that’s another reason that Maki and Shuichi keep coming back to his for Friday night dinner - his famous margaritas. Nobody makes cocktails better than he does. It’s simple things like this that bring them together, mere fractions in the equation of the love that they have for each other.

Shuichi sits on the sofa, his back straight. Even though it’s been a year since they’ve known each other, he still struggles with knowing his place in the friendship. It makes Kaito feel wanted every time he tells him to make himself at home; he brings him a margarita and some finger-food whilst he finishes making the main course.

“Hey,” he says, “come over here. You fancy cutting some vegetables?”

Shuichi comes, and then they’re together again, laughing in the kitchen as they prepare food. When there’s another knock on the door, Kaito trusts Shuichi to answer it, and Maki walks inside. She has a bottle of wine and a smile on her face, a sight that melts Kaito’s heart; knowing that his friends are happy is all that he needs to keep on living. They’ve all been through their respective hardships in life, but together, they’re literally unstoppable.

“Margaritas for all!” Kaito shouts, bringing glasses into the living room. Shuichi and Maki smile up at him, taking the drinks and looking over at the dinner that’s almost ready, bubbling on the stove. When it’s all prepared, they sit at the dining table together and eat, making conversation full of inside-jokes and discussions about topics that they’re all passionate about. Normally, Kaito dominates every conversation that he takes part in, but with these two, he finds that he’s happiest when he’s listening to their stories and opinions, learning about the people in this world that he loves most.

And then they’re bringing board games out. They’re playing _Monopoly,_ and Kaito is practically bankrupting himself every turn, but there’s no hatred of competitiveness in this scenario. He’s happy just to watch them laugh and succeed, like the whole world must be this way for goodness to shine amongst the three of them. As they sing songs together, making up many of their own, he finds himself frequently falling silent in the contentment of listening to his best friends. It truly astounds him, how talented and unique they are. He wants to be like them, but he’s satisfied just to lift their moral spirits and be there for them on nights that are not as sweet as Fridays.

It always ends this way, with the three of them curled on the sofa, cuddling into each other. The business of the world shuts itself out, having no place in this apartment - the only thing that they have time for is each other, and the soft lovelight of each other. Kaito feels truly happy sitting in the middle of them, with Maki holding his hand and Shuichi leaning into him; he feels wanted, and needed, and useful - feelings that evaded him for so long. Having these two people in his life gives him a purpose that he could only ever dream of before. There are Friday night dinners, margaritas, and inside jokes, laughing about the endless stream of conversation that comes from discussions on Danganronpa - their favourite show - and everything that comes in-between their lives. They talk about how hot it must be in Texas, how nice it will be to get bubble tea together one day, and how wonderful it is to love each other in the space of one another, and how this must be forever.

Yes, this must be forever. There’s an endless expanse of Friday night dinners between them all, binding them together in what makes them all happy.

He knows what makes him happy. There are two things, and they’re sitting right next to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Consider this a love letter to my friends Nebbie and Crash. Crash said she related to Maki in V3, and Nebbie Shuichi, and I relate to Kaito somewhat, so...here we go. I love you both so much. Try to navigate all the inside jokes :^)


End file.
